The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.In previous reports, we noted that upside risks to our forecasts existed. These were based on Chinese steel production, and in turn alloy consumption, outperforming our expectations.Chinese crude steel production is rising each month in a year-on-year comparison, prompting our revised view that Chinese alloy consumption will...Read More

The European spot ferro-silicon price resumed its downturn last week, falling to a level last seen in March 2016 with consumers in the steel sector dragging down the cost of feedstock against a slump in end-user consumption. Confirmed deals in Europe included a 400-tonne sale reportedly done at ?,?870 ($978) per tonne delivered, with another 75 tonnes sold at ?,?910-920 per tonne. Another deal for...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday June 30 that are worth another look.The definitive decision in the European steel safeguard case review failed to adjust the level of quotas to collapsed demand following Covid-19 crisis and is a "deep disappointment," European steel association Eurofer and European trade union IndustriAll said in a joint statement on June 30.Chine...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.US ERW under pressure through 2021 Electric-resistance welded oil country tubular goods prices are not expected to rebound in the United States this year while demand continues to fall. Only modest price gains are expected in the first half of next year, until inventories are brought in line with demand. We expect an an...Read More

The European Commission (EC) has toughened the existing safeguard measures on imports of steel products in the second review of the matter, it said on Tuesday June 30.The reviewed measures will come into force from July 1, 2020, and will remain in place for one year.The EC introduced two general adjustments to the quota system, intended to guarantee an orderly return to the market of all suppliers...Read More

Demand for physical delivery through the COMEX futures market continues, and this has significant implications for the future of the current fractional reserve and digital derivative pricing scheme.It's now mid-summer and the July COMEX contracts have moved into their delivery phase. The numbers are as amazing as they are historic, thus this updated summary is necessary today.Back in late March,...Read More

Dave KranzlerThe precious metals sector - gold, silver and mining stocks - is in the early stages of a rabid bull market. The mainstream media has been dead silent on the performance of the precious metals, which is not a surprise to those of us who have been involved in the sector since 2001, when gold bottomed at $250, silver was around $4 and the HUI index was at 45.Since September 2018, go...Read More

Bill Murphy, co-founder of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA.org,) returns to Liberty and Finance / Reluctant Preppers to answer viewers questions on the metals markets and what we must do to get positioned ahead of the next major move for Gold & Silver. Get your Free Two Week Trial Subscription to Bill Murphy's Daily Gold and PM Markets commentary at https://www.lemetropolecafe.com.Read More

Stewart Thomson, Graceland Updates 1. Investors ignore cycles... at their peril. When I calmly suggested that a key virus cycle year of 2020 would see a "carpet bombing" of markets, most investors were not listening to the cyclical message of the markets.2. Sadly, they were wasting time watching the government try to rebuild the American empire with Fed photocopiers, FATCA...Read More

Jordan Roy-Byrne CMT, MFTA Gold has broken out from a two-month-long consolidation (from $1680 to $1770), but the other precious metals markets have not confirmed Gold's strength.The gold stocks (GDX, GDXJ) remain below their May highs while Silver remains below significant, multi-year resistance around $18.75. Silver closed Monday at $18.06.Furthermore, Gold, when priced against foreign currenc...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday June 30 that are worth another look.The definitive decision in the European steel safeguard case review failed to adjust the level of quotas to collapsed demand following Covid-19 crisis and is a "deep disappointment," European steel association Eurofer and European trade union IndustriAll said in a joint statement on June 30.Chine...Read More

After dwindling throughout 2019, Turkish exports of reinforcing bar to the United States surged during the first half of 2020; Fastmarkets examines the domestic and global factors that limited those shipments - and drove their return.Turkish rebar exports to the US through the first six months of 2020 reached 231,569.9 tonnes, accounting for 44.4% of the total 521,002 tonnes of rebar shipped to US...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.US ERW under pressure through 2021 Electric-resistance welded oil country tubular goods prices are not expected to rebound in the United States this year while demand continues to fall. Only modest price gains are expected in the first half of next year, until inventories are brought in line with demand. We expect an an...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.In previous reports, we noted that upside risks to our forecasts existed. These were based on Chinese steel production, and in turn alloy consumption, outperforming our expectations.Chinese crude steel production is rising each month in a year-on-year comparison, prompting our revised view that Chinese alloy consumption will...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday June 30 that are worth another look.The definitive decision in the European steel safeguard case review failed to adjust the level of quotas to collapsed demand following Covid-19 crisis and is a "deep disappointment," European steel association Eurofer and European trade union IndustriAll said in a joint statement on June 30.Chine...Read More

The mining industry does a huge amount of good for local communities, to say nothing of its essential contribution to society through the materials it produces. Unfortunately, it all too often manages to give itself a bad name, worsening negative perceptions of the sector through accidents, spills and a failure to act as a steward of the environments in which it operates. In the past month alone,...Read More

Swiss metal merchant MRI Trading has appointed Markus Nunnenmacher as its new chief executive officer, with longstanding head Iain Paterson stepping down from the role effective from July 1."This change represents an agreed retirement transition process whereby Iain Paterson will continue to serve as the President of the Board of Directors of MRI for...Read More

The London Metal Exchange three-month copper price closed above $6,000 per tonne for the first time since January 23 on Tuesday June 30.The price was buoyed by high-volume trading amid supply concerns brought on by the closure of Codelco's Chuquicamata smelter in Chile amid the Covid-19 infection in the country.The LME three-month copper price closed up by a fairly modest 0.8% at $6,015 per tonne...Read More

Seaborne coking coal prices across the board stayed relatively flat on Tuesday June 30 due to a lack of trading, Fastmarkets heard. Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $113.46 per tonne, down $0.11 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $122.80 per tonne, down $0.01 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT:...Read More

Asian-Pacific equities and pre-market major western equity index futures were stronger this morning, Tuesday June 30, while base metals prices were for the most part firmer too - this despite Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell saying the US economy faces "extraordinary uncertainty". China's manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) climbed to 50.9 in June, from 50.3 in May, but Japan's in...Read More